16lb Brisket in 8.5 hours??

[Team PCBeach]

A quick write up to show sometimes when you make a mistake it still turns out OK and to show the saying "the meat is done when it is done" is true.

Went to Sam's looking to stock up on some meat and found their meat section nearly empty, but they did have a case of prime packer briskets.  Picked up a 19.25lb prime brisket for $52.   

 

After trimming it was still a little over 16lb.  Seasoned it up with Meat Church Holy Cow and Gospel .

 

 

 

Then I realized my first problem, a 16lb brisket is BIG.  Will this fit on my KJ Classic II?  A quick measurement found the brisket was 23".  Nope not going to fit.  Thankfully I had just watched a video where @John Setzler used a rib rack to fit a big brisket on a classic.  Lets give that a try. 

 

It fits!  It is now midnight, KJ controlled by Flameboss is rolling nicely at 275, time to sleep.  I figured since this was 16lb, it would be about a 16 hour cook.  I expected to wake up in the morning with the brisket in the stall.

 

7:15 I wake up and check the Flameboss, brisket is already 179!  Head out to wrap it. 

 

Wrapped and removed the rib rack since the brisket now fit.  At 8:30 meat temp was 195.  Checked the meat and temps were from 195 to 203 and it was probe tender.  Pulled it and left it on the counter to rest.  Told my wife it looks like we are having brisket for lunch rather than dinner.

 

Rested until 11:30 on the counter, temp only dropped to 179.

 

Sliced and enjoyed the best brisket I had ever made!  Nice smoke, tender and moist.  Since it is just two of us, I sliced this up, vacuumed packed  into 9 more meals.  So in the end we will get 10 meals out of this $52 brisket which is about $2.50 person/meal.  

 

Now I started pondering how I cooked a 16lb packer in 8.5 hours.  When looking back at my setup and my Flameboss data I think I ended up cooking much closer to 325 rather than 275.  I had clipped my grill probe on the rib rack and I think it was too close to the meat.  When I removed the rib rack to put the wrapped brisket on, I clipped the gill probe right to grate and it shot up to 325.  The only real down side I had is the bark on the flat was a little crunchy towards the thin end that was closest to the grate.  I am not sure this would have worked out so well if the brisket had not been elevated on the rib rack.  I had been skeptical of hot and fast brisket cooks, but it seems like if you start with a good cut of meat it can work.

 

 

 

[wallawu]

This has been my experience with brisket.  I usually grab one around 15 pounds, and they're done in 7-8 hours at ~300.  Much unlike pork butts where you plan on eating it for lunch and ends up being dinner! Glad it worked out!

 

 

[CentralTexBBQ]

congrats on the cook. Not quite sure why you assumed 16 hours @ 275°. 275° is definitely in that range of hot and fast. 

[Team PCBeach]

@CentralTexBBQ too much reading I guess, somewhere I got in my mind 1hr/pound at 275.

[wallawu]

If you watch Man, Fire, Food or any show like that, you always hear them they smoke their meat for 16+ hours, and it's in the 250-275 range. Could be the volume of meat in the pit/smoker/contraption they're using.

[CentralTexBBQ]

I've never heard that. Then again, some people overcook their brisket, imo. I've always heard 225°–275° low and slow; 275°– 350° hot and fast. Then again, people like John Mueller (of the Louie Mueller clan) prefer to cook around 400° or so. Anyway, longer cooks are toward that 225°– maybe 250°ish mark. Once you get around 275° and higher, you have more energy to power through the stall. 

 

From Texas Monthly Magazine:

 

Quote

Low and slow. Hot and fast. The line between the two isn’t clear. Most folks agree that Aaron Franklin smokes his briskets in the former fashion, but his running temperature of 275 degrees hits the upper end of the definition. Kreuz Market finishes their briskets in five hours, which is hotter and faster than most anyone. That means Lindsey’s promise of a three-hour brisket assured he’d be cooking with the intensity of a blast furnace

 

Edited March 24, 2020 by CentralTexBBQ

[Team PCBeach]

I have only done about a dozen briskets and all before this were low and slow 215-250.  This one cooked somewhere between 275-325 was by far my best, not even close.  My next one will again be in this hotter range to see if I can replicate.   If I can get them to keep coming out good, in half the time, then that is OK by me.

[Chasdev]

I switched to hot and fast these days, no wrap, no water pan, but I am addicted to dark smokey/salty bark!

[CentralTexBBQ]

4 hours ago, Chasdev said:

I switched to hot and fast these days, no wrap, no water pan, but I am addicted to dark smokey/salty bark!

 

Yikes! love everything here except the 'no water pan'. Well, I never use a 'water' pan either but in a Kamado, I consider a drip pan aboslutely essential for brisket, especially at higher temps. If my drip pan is directly on the deflector plates, I add a little water to dilute the fat as it renders so that it doesn't burn. That fat has to go somewhereand nothing it does, including catching fire, is something I want. How are you avoiding that?

 

I typically start @ 225° but crank it to 275°–285° after a couple of hours. 

 

Edited March 27, 2020 by CentralTexBBQ

[Chasdev]

350 from the start creates fantastic bark (along with salt and pepper of course) and I elevate the drip pan off the deflector with ceramic pads to lower it's temp a tad.

The drippings still burn black though.

I find that soaking the pan in dawn and hot water for a day softens the burnt residue enough to remove it and re-use the pan.

[CentralTexBBQ]

17 hours ago, Chasdev said:

350 from the start creates fantastic bark (along with salt and pepper of course) and I elevate the drip pan off the deflector with ceramic pads to lower it's temp a tad.

The drippings still burn black though.

I find that soaking the pan in dawn and hot water for a day softens the burnt residue enough to remove it and re-use the pan.

 

Yep, I assumed there had to be a drip pan in there somewhere! Thumbs up.